REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 1, 2022
FROM
WILLIAM L. GILBERT, Director, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Agreement with Nuance Communications, Inc. to Convert Clinical Medical Dictation and Voice Recognition Services to Epic
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. 20-70 with Nuance Communications, Inc. to convert clinical medical dictation and voice recognition services to Epic, the new electronic health record at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, with no change to the contract amount of $3,589,932 and no change to the contract period of February 21, 2020 through February 20, 2025.
(Presenter: William L. Gilbert, Director, 580-6150)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost) as there is no additional cost associated with this amendment. The underlying agreement for this amendment is funded by State Medi-Cal, Federal Medicare, private insurances, and other departmental revenue. Funding sources may change in the future pending any legislative activity related to the repeal and/or replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Sufficient appropriation and revenue are included in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) 2021-22 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nuance) provides voice recognition services utilized daily by practitioners throughout ARMC inpatient and outpatient settings for documentation of patient encounters into a patient’s medical record. It also provides the option to use medical dictation/transcription services as a backup during system downtimes or emergencies. ARMC has a new electronic health record system, Epic, that launched February 2022. All approved vendor services that access patient medical information via the former electronic health record system, Meditech, must be converted to Epic. As an Epic feature, healthcare providers will be able to continue to utilize medical dictation/transcription services via voice recognition software and have their notes included in their patient’s electronic health record.
On February 11, 2020 (Item No. 19), the Board of Supervisors approved Agreement No. 20-70 with Nuance for clinical medical dictation and voice recognition services at ARMC in the amount of $3,589,932, for the period of February 21, 2020 through February 20, 2025.
ARMC recommends approval of the amendment to provide for the safety, health and social service needs of County residents by improving the availability of a completed patient medical record, which also allows for efficient and accurate treatment, payment and operations and continued access to the Nuance services through Epic.
PROCUREMENT
Not applicable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Charles Phan, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on January 31, 2022; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance and Budget Officer, 580-3165) on February 7, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Diana Atkeson, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on February 8, 2022.